


Left to Die

by DarkNasa



Category: Left 4 Dead 2
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-13
Updated: 2014-06-21
Packaged: 2018-01-12 06:09:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1182804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkNasa/pseuds/DarkNasa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They had no choice. They had to be left behind so Coach and Rochelle would live. But they still have a chance to live. There has to be some hope for them to live.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Dark Carnival

Two tanks, several hunters, a few smokers, so many spitters they couldn’t even count, a few jockeys, and boomers falling from the top of the concert was what they had faced. And that was just the uncommon infected. Several pipe bombs led the commons away from them so they could deal with the uncommon infected that appeared. A smoker had grabbed Rochelle, pulling her away from the group. Ellis was the one that was able to shoot the smoker, only for a hunter to pounce on him seconds later. Coach pushed the hunter off of him, shooting it in the face seconds later. Nick threw a molotov ahead of them to get rid of as many infected as possible, as spitters shot goo at them, forcing them to separate.

 

“Where the hell is that helicopter?!”

 

All they could hope for was for the helicopter to hurry. Ellis threw another pipe bomb, picking up a bile jar and throwing it at a tank before running. The tank ran after him, killing any commons that went after him. Nick threw another molotov to set the tank on fire, before looking up and seeing the helicopter coming in for a landing.

 

“It’s here! Get on the helicopter!”

 

The helicopter hovered near the stands, opening its door and waiting for the survivors. Rochelle was the closest, climbing in before holding out her hand for Coach to grab and get in. Ellis ran towards the helicopter, the tank still after him. The helicopter pilot pulled up a bit, trying to avoid a rock that the second tank threw.

 

“We have to leave!”

 

Rochelle shook her head, turning to the pilot, “We can’t leave them!”

 

“It’s either we leave and some of us live or all of us die! Take your pick lady!”

 

Rochelle looked down at Ellis and Nick, who were still trying to deal with the tanks. Ellis looked over at her, having heard the helicopter pilot.

 

“Jus’ go! We’ll catch up!”

 

“Ellis are you out of your mind?!”

 

Nick shook his head, “Listen to the kid! We’ll be fine!”

 

The helicopter got into the air, its door closing before flying away. Ellis and Nick were left there to run from the tanks and other infected, heading towards the doors of the concert hall. The tanks and infected followed them, before Ellis threw a molotov to finally kill the two tanks. Ellis followed Nick soon after, the two of them reaching the safe room that they were in no more than a hour ago. Nick slamming the door shut the moment Ellis was in, locking it up.

“I know I said we’ll be fine… but now we’re kind of fucked,” Nick turned to the hick, sighing a bit, “You got us out of the mall. Do you have an idea now?”

 

Ellis sat down by the door, shaking his head, “I ain’t got a clue. We need to make a plan.”

 

Nick sat across from Ellis, “Well then come up with something.”

 

“We could go back to the car, and go see Zoey, Francis, and Louis and see if they will help us.”

 

Nick shrugged, “What more can we do?”

 

“We can rest for now, then run for Jimmy Gibbs’ car...”

 

“Alright. It’s just me and you now Ellis. Don’t let me down.”

 

For the first time ever, Ellis stayed quiet, staring at the wall. Usually he would start telling a story about Keith, or talk about something they had just did. But not now. Nick sighed, before getting up and walking over to the ammo pile to reload his guns. Ellis was never this quiet, the silence from him was just creepy with the moans and screams of the infected in the background. It was either get him to talk or listen to the zombies.

 

And as annoying as Ellis was, he decided to try to talk to the hick.

 

“Ellis?”

 

“Yeah Nick?”

 

“After we talk with the others, what do we do?”

 

“Uhhh… I was thinkin’ that we could ask them if they saw a broken down helicopter that is fixable… I could fix it and then we can head to New Orleans usin’ it.”

 

“Wait. You’re a mechanic?”

 

“Yeah man! Like this one time me and my buddy Keith were trying to fix this car for someone when the zombie apocalypse hit so we made it into a zombie proof truck! But then a tank appeared and sent it flying. We survived and then a heli came and picked Keith up. For some reason it left me and I don’t know why-”

 

Nick rolled his eyes, “I just wanted you to talk to drown out the zombies. Not make me deaf with your stories.”

 

“Alright alright. I’ll shut up.”

“Or you could reload your gun and we can get going.”

 

Ellis smiled, standing up and getting ammo for his gun and pistols, reloading all of them. Nick opened the safe room door, already hearing a witch’s crying. Ellis was right behind him, holding his M-16 at the ready.

 

“Witch…”

 

“Let’s not bother her. Shall we?”

 

“But if she’s in the way…”

 

“We’ll have to figure out a way around her.”

 

Nick headed out before Ellis could say anything else, the hick silently following him. Both of them looked for zombies, not seeing anything.

 

“Guess the horde decided to go away. Easier for us.”

 

A faint crying was heard in the distance, Nick sighing as the groans of the undead were heard again. Ellis kept following him, hearing a jockey in the background as he looked for it. The last thing they needed near a witch was a jockey, the two infected near each other were deadly enough.Without Coach and Rochelle they are a death sentence for at least one of them.

 

The crying was getting louder as they climbed onto the roof of the barn, running across it to try to be fast so they could get to the safe room to rest up before climbing the coaster again. Ellis had forgotten about the jockey, running towards the end of the roof. He had ran by the witch, who was sitting on the roof and growling at the mechanic. Nick avoided her, trying to sneak by- only for the jockey to jump on his head.

 

“GET IT OFF!”

 

Ellis turned, seeing the jockey ride Nick towards the witch. The mechanic wasn’t fast enough as Nick tripped over the witch. Ellis killed the jockey before it got him, now firing at the pissed off witch. She died a few seconds later, Ellis running over to Nick and helping him up. The conman had scratches on his face from the jockey, as well as a large claw scratch across his chest from the witch. Nick seemed to be out of it, most likely from bleeding out. The hick sighed, picking up Nick and carrying him towards the saferoom. He climbed off the roof, heading through the barns and the rest of the carnival towards the saferoom. He had to be quick so he could get a medkit that they left in the other saferoom for Nick. He couldn’t lose him. If he loses Nick he’ll die.

 

The saferoom was close, the hick being lucky enough that no special infected decided to attack him. He had dropped his gun for a grenade launcher, just in case something decided to attack him. He dragged Nick into the saferoom, letting him lean against the wall as he went to shut the door. A roar was heard and Ellis pulled out his grenade launcher. A tank was in the distance, coming towards him. Ellis threw a molotov at it, setting it on fire once it walked into the flames. He decided to use his dual pistols for a bit, shooting at the tank. Nick was going to yell at him for doing this. If he survived at least. Soloing a tank was insane to do, there was almost no way for you to live. Of course, shooting and running was really the only thing you could do, while dodging the rocks it threw. He sent a blast from his grenade launcher at it, almost killing it. It managed to get close to Ellis, sending him flying with a punch into the saferoom. Luckily for him and Nick, the fire killed it, the monster falling before it got into the room.

 

Ellis got up right away, shutting the door and locking it. He walked over to Nick, giving him pain pills and pulling out a medkit. He started bandaging him, not having anything to help clean the wounds. Nick took the pills, about to pass out anyways. Ellis shook Nick a bit, not wanting him to fall asleep just yet.

 

“Stay awake. Please?”

 

Nick groaned, not wanting to stay awake. But he stayed awake, letting Ellis keep taking care of him. Ellis finished bandaging him, trying to keep Nick awake.

 

“Did you… Take on that tank by yourself?”

 

“Yeah…”

  
“You idiot.”


	2. Tunnel of Love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you can probably see, im not trying with Ellis' accent.  
> lmao  
> also this is a shorter chapter than before. I promise that the next will be a lot longer.

Ellis had stayed up, keeping watch while Nick got some rest. He sighed, trying to not just pass out right there and then. Nick was doing better since the witch incident thanks to Ellis having learned from watching the others heal each other enough to save Nick’s life. Ellis listened to the screams of the undead outside, unable to do anything else until Nick decided to get up. He stood up, looking through the window of the safe room door. They still had to get through half of the park and get up the hill somehow. 

But how was the question. Do they try to climb or do they give up? Climbing was the only way as far as Ellis could see. There was no way they could just give up and leave Coach and Rochelle. They had to get back to the bridge and then get help from Zoey. If she was still there… if she isn’t they were more than likely fucked.

What about Keith? He had escaped on a helicopter and Ellis hadn’t heard from him since. If he is immune, what happened to him? He heard Nick groaning from beside him, looking over at the conman who was starting to wake up. He didn’t move much, but he opened his eyes, looking over at Ellis.

“How long was I out for?”

“About 7 hours. I’m really tired…”

Nick sighed, “Go get some sleep then. We won’t leave for a bit.”

Ellis nodded, falling asleep after a few minutes. Nick got up, walking over to the guns and getting an AK-47 there, as well as a new medkit. He looked over at the saferoom door, hearing the undead scream and groan. The saferoom door on the coaster side was weakened from a tank that they fought on the way to the concert, if a charger decided to charge it that would be it. The door would go. Of course, by all laws of the natural world, everything had to go against him. He heard the charger seconds before it knocked the door down.

“God fucking damn it!”

He shot at it, killing it quickly before running over to Ellis and shaking the mechanic awake.

“A charger broke the door. We have to run the coaster again. Get up.”

Ellis got up quickly, grabbing his M-16 and following Nick out the door. They got back onto the coaster, shooting at any infected that got near them. Unfortunately for them, a smoker got Ellis halfway, pulling him off the track. Ellis had managed to grab onto the edge, the smoker letting him go before trying to get Nick. Nick managed to shoot it before it got him, killing it before pulling Ellis up.

At this rate, they’ll get overran. There’s no way for them to keep the mobs of infected that were after them away from them. Nick pulled Ellis along, the two of them reaching the end of the coaster before climbing over the fence. They needed to get back through the tunnel of love. And now it’ll be almost impossible to get through it unless they managed to climb through the hole in the ceiling. Which is most likely what they would have to do to get out of there alive.

They wasted no time getting into the tunnel, where there were no zombies thankfully. This was probably due to them wiping them out on the way here, but none the less, they walked through the twisted corridors. Nick helped Ellis into the hole in the ceiling and Ellis pulled him up from there, and back through the maintenance room and into the tunnel again. The fact that there were no zombies allowed Nick to think to himself the whole way. What did he think of Ellis? Well, the kid was kind, he was annoying, but he was also… dare he think it- Cute?

Nick shook his head, throwing that thought out the window. Ellis was an annoying and loud hick. He was staying with him for survival. Not because he was cute and actually cared about Nick. Nah the hick’s cute and annoying. Nick sighed, pushing the thought to the back of his head once they reached the tunnel of love’s safe room.

Yes. Ellis is cute.

No he isn’t going to tell the hick that. Ever. Mainly because he didn’t want to scare off his last ally in this dark abyss of bullshit. Ellis was standing at the door, staring at him and waiting for him to get into the safe room.

“Nick! Get in here!”

Nick smiled a bit, walking in as Ellis shut and locked the door. The conman sat against a wall, looking over at Ellis as the hick sat next to him and promptly passed out. Nick looked towards the saferoom door, sighing as he heard even more undead. This zombie bullshit needed to end soon. He was just done with it.

He just wanted to live a normal life of gambling and becoming rich. He didn’t want to get stuck in the middle of a zombie apocalypse with an over talkative, adorable, annoying hick. A hick that was now using his shoulder as a pillow. Nick sighed, soon passing out as well.

\--------

Ellis woke up to himself using Nick as a pillow, the hick looking up at him before sitting up, yawning loudly. He sighed, looking out the window of the saferoom door. He just wanted to see Keith again, and all his other friends. Hanging out with Nick was great and all but he wanted to know that Coach and Rochelle were alright. Wait. They were probably alright. They got on the helicopter.

Him and Nick on the other hand…  
Ellis shook his head, getting up and pulling out a sniper rifle, aiming at random zombies outside. He managed to sniper a few, before his rifle woke up Nick with how loud it was.

“Can you stop with the random gunshots?”

Ellis looked back at Nick, before putting his gun down and walking over, “Sorry.”

Nick rolled his eyes, “I’m getting up anyway. We should leave.”

Ellis grabbed his M-16, following Nick out the door. The conman was on a mission- get to the car as fast as possible. He didn’t want to stay at a creepy carnival anymore. He smiled as Ellis yelled something about kiddie land again, the mechanic getting onto one of the small kiddie train on the ride in the center of kiddie land.

“How do we start this thing? I want to ride just one. Please?”

Nick chuckled, deciding to start the ride for Ellis so the mechanic wouldn’t whine about it later. He walked over to the controls, turning the key that was still in the ride to start it. Ellis was giggling like a five year old as he sat in the train cart.

To see Ellis that happy, even in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, ended up making Nick smile.


	3. Escape from the Carnival

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm practicing with Ellis' accent so you'll slowly see it reappearing

He had to pull Ellis off the merry-go-round, the mechanic wanting to stay on it longer. But they had to get moving, since more than likely, the horde heard it and was on its way. They headed towards the exit of the carnival once more. He pulled Ellis up the hill and towards the warehouse, making sure he didn’t lose Ellis. It was dark out and it was hard to see. Why did they leave in the middle of the night? Why did that seem like a good idea to them?

 

Well, probably because it wasn’t dark when they left. But now it was and they had to stick together and hope that one of them didn’t trip over a witch. The two of them were in the dark, unable to see and having to rely on their ears to know what lied ahead. Of course this didn’t help against hunters if the hunter was smart and stayed quiet, but they always know when a hunter was about to pounce due to it’s growling. As they reached the door of the warehouse, the screech of a spitter was heard moments before she spat at them. Nick ran ahead to get out of it in time, while Ellis got pulled back by a smoker.

 

“Shoot the tongue!”

 

Nick took aim, making sure to headshot the smoker with his magnum before pulling out his gun to take out the spitter. Ellis limped out, having gotten dragged through the spitter goo. Nick looked around the corner, seeing the exit of the carnival. He picked up Ellis, carrying him towards the near-by saferoom. They were almost there and they couldn’t waste time with limping there. Of course, Ellis tried to fight him, squirming to try to get out of his hold. This was difficult for him due to his leg however.

 

Nick walked through the gates, putting Ellis down in the saferoom before shutting the door. He turned to Ellis, kneeling down by him and checking his leg. Ellis’ leg was burned by the spitter goo, the acid having burned his skin on his ankle.

 

“How did it burn your ankle and not the overalls?”

 

“Coveralls.”

 

“I honestly don’t care. How did the acid not burn through?”

 

“I dunno. Maybe it’s like, one of those weird acids that got absorbed through?”

 

Nick rolled his eyes, pulling out his medkit and getting water on a rag, putting it on the burn and trying to wash the acid out of it. He ignored Ellis’ pained groans as he did so before bandaging the mechanic’s ankle.

 

“Thanks Nick…”

 

“No problem kid. Just relax for now. We’ll get moving back to the car in the morning.”

 

“The car will probably make a lot of noise when I start it. We haven’t used it in a few days so we should let it start up so it doesn’t die on us on the way there. So I hope you’re ready to fight off a horde.”

 

“We’ll be ready for them.”

 

“Also, how do we get up that hill?”

 

“We climb.”

 

“I don’t think we can climb up that there hill.”

 

“We’ll trick a smoker into pulling us up or something. I don’t know.”

 

Nick shook his head, sitting down by Ellis. The mechanic leaned against Nick, causing the gambler to tense up a bit before speaking.

 

“Ellis, what are you doing?”

 

Ellis didn’t respond, having fallen asleep already. Nick shook his head, letting Ellis sit there. He had no plans to get up anytime soon. He decided to stay on watch, reloading his magnum and AK-47 before looking over at Ellis to make sure he didn’t wake up the kid. Ellis was still asleep, which allowed Nick to relax and lean against the wall a bit. The conman falling asleep while on watch. Thankfully no tanks decided to attack them while they were asleep, allowing them both to get the rest they both needed.

 

Nick ended up mentally slapping himself once he woke up to something exploding, sighing in annoyance. He was suppose to be up on watch. Not having a nap. Nick looked over at Ellis again, only to see that he was asleep and snoring loudly. Nick got up, letting Ellis lay on the ground. He took off his already ruined suit jacket, putting it under Ellis’ head to act as a pillow. The last thing he needed was the mechanic complaining about a headache.

 

He looked out the window of the saferoom, seeing that the zombies had reappeared. More people had come by, and turned. At least that’s what he thinks happened and thought so until he opened the door to go outside, noticing a fire in the distance, a downed airliner having fallen in the ditch that they had went through just days before.

 

How did that not wake Ellis up?

 

Either way, hopefully the airliner landed so that they would be able to climb it to reach the motel again. Or maybe it took out the stuff in the way of the road so they could run along that. For now, Nick just cleared out the zombies, grabbing a pipe bomb and throwing it to get rid of a lot of them that had wandered up by their hold out. Nick looked over at the road, seeing that the plane had taken out the bridge that went across the ravine. There went that plan. They needed a way up, and they would have to hope that the plane would be the one to give them a way up. It was daytime now, and they had to leave. So Nick walked over to Ellis, shaking his shoulder.

 

“Ellis. Get up. It’s time to go.”

 

Ellis was woken up a few minutes later, groaning and sitting up before smiling a bit.

 

“Yew let me use your jacket as a pillow?”

 

“Just while I killed some zombies outside. A plane crashed out there earlier so it looks like hell. Well- more like hell. Grab your axe that you left here and let’s get going. You can carry both pistols and a melee so I don’t see why you don’t just do that.”

 

Ellis smiled, nodding before grabbing the axe and getting up. Nick picked up his machete, deciding to use it to save bullets against the common infected. The two of them headed out, going towards the fallen airliner in hopes that it would give them a way up the hill. Luckily for them, one of the wings had collapsed, while the other had gotten bent in such a way that it would allow them to climb up the hill and towards the motel.

 

As they neared the plane, they had to avoid fire, and a witch that was inside it still and screaming her lungs out due to being on fire. Ellis had gotten onto the fallen wing easily, Nick following him. When he tried to climb up the second wing, however, he tripped, falling backwards into Nick.

 

“Whoa there fireball. Be careful.”

 

“Sorry man. I jus’... slipped.”

 

“Just get up there. I’m following you so… don’t slip.”

 

Ellis went back to climbing, reaching the top of the hill just in time before a hunter pounced at him. He swung at it with his axe, chopping its head off. Nick was still climbing, having a harder time than Ellis did due to his shoes not having any grip on them. They were dress shoes afterall. Not like the company that made them intended for them to be used by a 35 year old man in the middle of the zombie apocalypse for climbing. Ellis stood at the top, killing any infected that got close to him.

 

Just as Nick reached the top, the wing gave out, falling into the ditch below. Nick grabbed onto the cliff just as it fell, hanging there and waiting for Ellis to finish killing infected.

 

“Do you mind helping me out here?”

 

Ellis threw his pipe bomb before turning to Nick, grabbing his hand and helping him up. They made it past the most difficult part. Now they needed to reach the car and fight the horde. Once they turned the corner, they saw that the gate had been broken down, allowing them to get through without having to go though the motel itself. They passed the pool, heading over to the road and heading down towards the ramp that would lead upward and back onto the freeway.

 

Ellis and Nick climbed over the cars, shooting any infected that ran towards them. Once Ellis got over the last car, he ran towards the racecar, laying on top of it as soon as he got there. Nick shook his head, chuckling a bit.

 

“Ellis, get off the car. We gotta start it.”

 

“Tell me when yew’re ready then I’ll move. Till then I ain’t movin’.”

 

Nick rolled his eyes, grabbing a molotov before realizing that there was more there than they left. He decided to ignore it, picking up a pipe bomb and handing it to Ellis. Nick set up gas cans for them to shoot when they need to, just in case. Nick walked over to Ellis, shaking him a bit.

 

“Hey, start the car.”

 

Ellis got up, living up the hood of it and force starting the engine. He coughed a bit, before getting up and closing the hood. The car made a lot of noise, the horde hearing it and heading towards them. Ellis threw the pipe bomb to get rid of a lot of the zombies, while Nick took out any specials.

 

“How long is it going to take for the car to be started?”

 

“‘Bout six minutes. It’s sat in the cold for a few days.”

 

Nick heard the roaring of a tank in the distance, swearing under his breath. If that thing gets close to the car… it can flip it and break it to the point where it can’t be used anymore. They saw a car get thrown in the air, landing to the right of Ellis, the mechanic barely avoiding it.The tank jumped on top of a bus, throwing a rock at them. Nick managed to avoid it, but got pinned by a hunter. Ellis shot at it, quickly killing the hunter and getting Nick back onto his feet. The conman threw his molotov, burning the tank before the two of them shot at it.

 

They HAD to kill it before it reached the car. There was no way they couldn’t kill it before it reached the car.

 

Ellis picked up another pipe bomb, throwing it to get rid of most of the common infected while he and Nick focused on the tank. Luckily for them, the fire ended the tank’s life (or the lack there of), just as the car was warm enough to move.

 

“The Jimmy Gibbs Jr’s ready! Get in!”

Ellis got into the driver’

s seat, yelling at Nick to get in. Just as he reached the car, he got pulled back by a smoker. Ellis got out of the car, shooting at the smoker to free Nick. Nick limped over, getting into the passenger seat as Ellis got in again. He started the race car, pulling a U-turn and speeding towards the bridge he had met Zoey at.

 

He wanted to see Zoey again. Hell, he wanted to see everyone again. It really sucked that Bill died before they had gotten the chance to meet him, but at the moment only one thing really mattered: getting to New Orleans and finding Coach and Rochelle again. Hopefully they’ll get a helicopter to help them out or something.

 

There was no way they were just going to sit down and let the zombies kill them.

 

After all, Keith did tell him to kill all those son of a bitches.

  
That was his official instructions.


	4. Old Friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I plan on chapter 5 being a special chapter showing you guys what happened with the helicopter  
> b/c i feel like that needs to be explained  
> It involves a certain hick that you guys love
> 
> hint: he's not ellis. he's a different hick that you guys still love.

“I hate waiting.”

 

“I know you do, Francis. But we can’t leave until Louis is able to walk properly.”

 

“He was walking while we were helping those folks with getting their car across the bridge!”

 

“He was limping.”

 

“He can still move!”

 

“Francis. We need to wait.”

 

The biker groaned, sitting down on the bridge. How long has it been since Rochelle and her group was last here? A week or two? Who knows really. All Francis knew was that he was being forced to wait now. They needed to get to that island. They already lost Bill and now they were wasting time there.

 

“We’re taking a boat there though-”

 

“Francis.”

 

Francis glared at her, before sighing again.

 

A helicopter could be heard overhead, causing the three of them to look up. It was in the middle of crashing, its pilot having turned into an infected. It wasn’t uncommon for helicopters to crash anymore. So the three survivors just watched as it fell. What they expected was an explosion, or smoke of some kind being seen from the crash site. Instead it seemed like the pilot managed to make an emergency landing of some kind without breaking the helicopter.

 

“So should we stay here? Or go check out the-”

 

“We’re staying here Francis.”

 

“The old man didn’t die just for us to waste time here and wait for us to die-”

 

“Bill didn’t die so we could go and check out some helicopter that landed nearby just to get ourselves killed. We will leave before we starve to death. You just have to wait.”

 

Francis went quiet at that, leaning against the railing of the bridge. They’ll be here for at least 3 more days at this rate. Which is more than enough time for a tank or something to figure out that they’re there and try to kill them.

 

And it’ll be a day before they see some old friends again.

The Jimmy Gibbs Jr. came to a stop right before the bridge. Nick getting out first since he needed fresh air from being stuck in the car for about three days with just Ellis. He looked around, finding Louis on the bridge.

 

“Hey up there!”

 

Louis turned, smiling when he saw them.

 

“Hey! You’re back! Did  you hit a dead end or something?”

 

“You could say that. We got left behind by the rescue helicopter. Ellis had the wonderful idea of coming back to see you guys.”

 

Louis could clearly see the sarcasm in that sentence, choosing to ignore it. “Well it’s nice to see you guys again. Is it just you and Ellis or is Rochelle and Coach there?”

 

“Just me and Ellis.”

 

“Damn. Poor Ellis.”

 

“Hey!”

 

Louis laughed, before limping off to go get Francis and Zoey, “Hey you two! Guess who’s back!”

 

Ellis got out of the car as Zoey and Francis walked over, looking down at them. He smiled up at Zoey, glad that he got to see her again.

 

“Hey Ellis! … And Nick!”

 

“Hey Zoey! Do yew know if there’s a radio or somethin’ we can use to contact a helicopter or the military?”

 

“No… Sorry Ellis.”

 

Francis gave her a look before looking back down at the two of them.

 

“A helicopter landed not too far from here actually. It didn’t crash either from what we saw. So you could head off to it and check out the area.”

 

“Is it still there?”

 

“We didn’t see it take off. Head up the port to that store at the top of the hill. There’s a door in the back. You may need to break down the door but it’ll lead towards a saferoom. From there go through the ports and the giant ship there and just look around the area for the helicopter. I have no idea exactly where it landed but just look for it. It’s somewhere in that area. And if you can’t find it there’s a train there that we took to get here and you can use that to get out of there.”

 

“Can you guys help us at all or are you just going to sit here?”

 

“I would go with you guys but then Zoey would have my head. So I can’t really do shit all. Sorry ‘bout that.”

 

Zoey glared at him, “We need to stay here because of Louis. We can’t leave him here.”

 

Nick shook his head, before turning towards the hill that they had driven down and walking up it. They needed to get to the helicopter before it leaves. They had to hurry. They couldn’t just waste time with listening to Francis and Zoey fight.

 

“Well you guys, I reckon we’ve gotta be leavin’. Stay safe alright?”

 

“You too Ellis! … And Nick.” Zoey looked begrudgingly at Nick, before smiling at Ellis.

 

Ellis smiled before running after Nick, not wanting to leave the conman all by himself to get killed by the infected. It was just the two of them afterall. The two of them made it to the saferoom that Francis had told them about. There was only one remaining first aid kit, probably because one of the others in the other survivor group forgot it or just didn’t need it. For now, the two of them just needed to rest. There was a long way to go before they find the helicopter.

 

Thankfully, there was still food in the saferoom, Ellis instantly going for it. It wasn’t anything special, mostly just preserved food that tasted like nothing. But it was food and Ellis was starving. The southerner downed the food, while Nick ate a bit. Nick had brought food along with him, and had eaten in the car since Ellis was the one that had been driving. Once Ellis finished eaten, he sat against the wall, relaxing there and watching Nick.

 

“So Nick, do yew think we’ll be able to reach New Orleans and find Rochelle and Coach again?”

 

The question was so out of the blue and just there, but the conman answered anyway, “At the rate we’re going, probably not.”

 

Ellis frowned, “But, we’re an unstoppable team. We got each other’s backs. Why did ask yew even? What else did I expect?”

 

“I don’t know what you were expecting kid. Hopefully it was this otherwise you are severely dehydrated or something.”

 

Well, the hick was thirsty. He’d admit that. So he grabbed some water to drink, while Nick got his guns and medkit together. Ellis got up to get his stuff together a few minutes later, grabbing a new medkit since he forgot his at the car. The two of them could hear the zombies outside, sighing before both of them pulled out their melee weapons.

 

Through the guts and gore they go once again.

 

Nick opened the door, slashing at the first zombie he saw with his machete, getting blood on his suit was normal now. It still bothered him but not nearly as much as it did when he first got blood on it. Going through that mall was a dark time full of Coach and Ellis poking fun at him for not getting blood on his favorite suit. Now was different.

 

Now he only had Ellis.

 

Now he was about to die.

 

They could only go so far. Then what? They either die, become zombies, or get shot by the military. There was no way to win this game. Nothing to cheat your way out of death. Of course Ellis didn’t see the zombie apocalypse like this. He saw it as an adventure of sorts. Like he was the hero and there was no way for him to die.

 

In short, Ellis thought he was invincible.

 

Unless the hick figured out by now that he wasn’t. And that was unlikely.

 

Nick lead Ellis through the ruined port, the two of them looking for the ship that Francis had old them about. When they turned the corner they saw it there, looming in the distance. It wouldn’t be a long walk towards it. Not as long as some of the walks they’ve done recently.

 

But it would take longer as Nick’s vision suddenly went green.

 

“I can’t believe I’m covered in vomit. AGAIN.”

 

Ellis turned, seeing the conman trying to get the vomit out of his eyes, before shooting at every single infected he saw. He accidently shot the boomer though, causing Nick to trip and stay on the ground until he got the bile out of his eyes. A boomer had to have been the worst thing that could have happened there, as Ellis turned to see a charger charging at him before getting hit by it and pummeled by it. Nick swore under his breath trying to get the bile out of his eyes.

 

“SHOOT THIS THING PLEASE!”

 

Nick kept trying to get the vomit out of his eyes, while trying to locate the charger. Ellis’ yells of pain and “SHOOT IT” were what allowed him to easily shoot the charger before he finally got the goo out of his eyes. The conman got up, heading over to Ellis to make sure he was alright.

The only thing he noticed was that Ellis wasn’t moving.

 

“Shit. Shit. Shit. Ellis… Get up.”

  
He checked Ellis’ pulse, feeling it and sighing in relief. The kid was just knocked out. He picked him up, deciding to head back to the other safe room to deal with Ellis’ wounds. There was no way he would be able to carry Ellis all the way to the helicopter. He would have to hope that it would wait for them. If not… they were done for.


	5. Keith

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took really long! And is also really short ._.

Why didn’t he see it coming?

 

He should have known it was too good to be true. Well, seeing how his best friend got left behind and is now most likely dead, it was actually already really bad. And it just got worst. Why did he leave Ellis back there? Why was it that the helicopter pilot didn’t tell them that he was infected?

 

Now they were falling to the ground and the other passengers had turned and tried to kill him already. Luckily for him he managed to kill the zombies with his bat, but now he had to fly a helicopter. The likelihood of him being able to do that was slim. He was a mechanic, not a damn pilot.

 

But it’s either do that or die.

 

Keith pushed the now dead pilot out of his seat, sitting down and trying to remember how they flew helicopters in all those movies he watched. The ground was coming up fast and he didn’t have much time, so he pulled up on the control to try to get it to be leveled again. Luckily it did get leveled and Keith, through mashing buttons and levers (and a lot of luck), managed to get it to slowly descend and land. Of course, a helicopter makes a lot of noise, so all the infected in the area were now heading towards him.

 

And all he has is a bat to protect himself with.

 

Keith sighed, looking around as the infected’s screams were heard. He got out of the helicopter, deciding to run towards the nearest saferoom only to get pulled away by a smoker. He swung at it with his bat when he got close to it, killing it before running towards the nearby warehouse.

 

The warehouse had a saferoom in it, the hick running in there and shutting the door before infected could get him. He was all alone and there was nothing he could do about it. He grabbed an auto shotgun from the table, as well as a magnum.

 

“Finally have some sort of fuckin’ protection…”

 

Keith sat down, staring at the door. What was he suppose to do? He was going to die anyways. Maybe there were other survivors around? But they were probably infected or something. Wait. He was the only one that survived and he fought the infected. And he still felt fine. Maybe he was a carrier…

 

But that would mean that he just killed all those people wouldn’t it? Well, other than shooting them after they turned of course.

 

No that couldn’t be the case. He was immune, and the pilot had been bit before hand. That’s all. Immunity and being a carrier are two completely different things. Keith had made his final decision, he was immune. Not a carrier.

 

For now, he needed to survive. He needed to find Ellis and team up with him so they can get to the military and finally get evacuated. It was a fool proof plan.

 

Then again that’s what he thought about all those times he nearly got himself killed.

 

But that won’t happen again. He was sure of it.

 

How did it even start anyways? Dave turned, forcing Ellis and Keith to kill him. Then everyone started slowly getting infected and turning around them. They almost died but Ellis managed to get them out of there with his truck, which was destroyed by a tank when they got close to the evac area. Ellis got left behind which brought Keith to where he is now.

 

Stuck in a safe room in the middle of nowhere about to die.

 

Funny how that worked out isn’t it?

 

He’s probably the last man on earth for miles now. He had to get going to the evac center in Savannah, if it was still standing. It’s the only way. Keith got up, pulling out his marker before writing on the wall of the saferoom.

 

“Helicopter went down, headin’ for New Orleans. I’m all by myself. -Keith Marshall”

 

There. That way if Ellis ever comes through here, he would know where he is. He’ll probably be dead before he got too far, but you can’t be sure. He leaned against the wall, sitting down and pulling his hat over his eyes. A few hours of sleep won’t kill him. He’ll be fine for now.

 

Of course the screams of the undead horde woke him up later. But he was in a saferoom where it would be hard to see him unless they were close, which they weren’t.

 

That meant there were people nearby.

 

He jumped, hearing a hunter pounce at the saferoom door. Keith sighed, grabbing his shotgun and shooting it. He headed out, going to look for the other survivors. He just had to follow the horde without being caught. That was easier said than done, as the special infected were near. He tried sneaking through, not wanting to let an infected see him. However a jockey had seen him and was now going after him.

 

It had managed to jump on him, trying to lead him towards the other infected while Keith resisted. He was trying to get away from them so he could get the jockey off somehow.

 

Of course, fire has always been a friend to him.

 

The jockey lead him into the fire instead, burning to death as Keith managed to escape and jump in the water to put out the flames. He groaned, getting back onto land. Jockeys are the worst thing ever. He hated them so much.

 

Then again, who doesn’t hate jockeys?

 

No one that’s who.

 

He got up, limping after the horde. This was the dumbest idea he’s ever had. But there were people that way and he needed help. The faint crying of a witch was heard up ahead, Keith sighing to himself.

 

What was he going to even do? There was a witch between him and the others.

 

Not to mention his vision was slowly going dark…

 

The witch’s broken crying was even more distant now. As Keith slowly fell over, no longer having the will or strength to move. Hopefully if he passes out the infected will think that he’s dead and leave him alone. His eyes were now closed and he heard a zombie passing nearby, confirming that they did think that he was dead.

 

He could finally rest for a bit, smiling a bit as he closed his eyes.

 

He could have sworn he heard Ellis yelling his name.

  
“Keith!”


	6. Reunited

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this took really long.  
> I hope to get chapter 7 up sooner than this was up! (And I hope it will be longer)

As he came to, Ellis noticed two things. One was that his back was sore, the second was that it was dark. Nick had turned off the lights for whatever reason, but he soon figured out why as soon as he heard the distant crying of a witch. He groaned, sitting up and trying to find the conman in the darkness. He could hear Nick’s snoring, crawling towards him and trying to get him to either be quiet or wake up. He eventually found Nick, shaking his shoulder to try to wake him up.

 

It didn’t work.

 

He rolled his eyes, leaning against Nick. Just as he started to fall asleep again, he felt Nick wrap his arms around him, taking the hick in surprise. Ellis looked over at the other man, seeing that he was still asleep. He smiled, deciding to cuddle up to him and relax.

 

Did he like the conman? That was a dumb question, of course he liked him. But Nick has said several times before that he hated Ellis. This left the hick wondering if he had just said that out of anger or if it was the actual truth.

 

He hoped it was just out of anger.

 

He ended up sitting there, listening to Nick’s snoring. Even though he was loud, the snoring was still calming to him. Probably because it was just how close he was to him at the current moment. Or it might have been because of the fact that Nick was the only surviving human near him at the moment.

 

He felt the conman move a bit, starting to wake up. Ellis wasn’t able to move at all, so he laid there, pretending to be asleep. As Nick woke up, the first thing he noticed was that Ellis was using him as a pillow.

 

“Getting a bit comfy aren’t you?”

 

“I was jus’ cold…”

 

Nick rolled his eyes, “Are you feeling any better?”

 

“Not really. My back aches like I fell on it from the top of a 2 story buildin’.”

 

“That bad huh?”

 

Ellis nodded, not really wanting to move at all. But they did need to leave soon. He’ll probably have to down some pills before leaving in order for them to get to the helicopter in time. Nick got up,letting Ellis lean against the wall. He walked over to the weapons, grabbing Ellis’ and passing him them. The mechanic got up, taking some pain pills before looking outside. The witch’s crying was still heard. The infected stumbled around outside, some of them puking their guts out. Ellis went over to the weapons, putting the M-16 down to pick up the Military Rifle.

 

“Ellis, are you ready?”

 

Ellis got a medkit on his back, nodding at Nick. The conman unlocked the door, letting the steel bar drop. Ellis sniped the infected he could see before they alerted anything else as Nick opened the door, sneaking out and trying to avoid a witch fight. The last thing they needed was to get into a fight with a witch for no reason. Ellis followed Nick close behind, sniping the infected that came into view.

 

The witch was getting louder.

 

And a jockey’s laughing could be heard, turning into yelps of pain, almost like it was burning. Ellis and Nick decided to hurry, in case someone was up ahead and had an unfortunate run in with a jockey.Of course it could just be that a jockey was dumb enough to run into fire. Nick turned the corner, hearing the witch start growling before backing up and turning off his flashlight. It was pitch black but it managed to get the witch to calm down, falling back into her state of never ending sadness. Nick could see someone stumbling, almost like an infected. But at the same time he was sure that this person was a survivor. The survivor fell over, laying on the ground as infected passed him. Nick shot the infected down, being careful to not hit the witch.

 

Ellis, on the other hand, knew who the person was. And he wasn’t careful around the witch.

 

“Keith!”

 

That’s when Ellis tripped. Right. Over. The. Witch. She screamed and he ended up hitting the ground face first. Nick shot at her as she tried to claw at Ellis. Ellis was trying to fight her off, avoiding her claws by rolling around and moving out of the way. All that Ellis was able to hear was screaming and gunshots. And eventually his own yell of pain as a bullet hit his forearm.

 

“Shit! Ellis stop moving so I can shoot her and not you!”

 

“But then her claws will end up in my fuckin’ CHEST.”

 

Nick rolled his eyes, pulling out his magnum and shooting the witch with it. The witch let out one last scream of pain before dying and falling over. Nick walked over to Ellis, helping him up and looking at his arm, sighing before pulling out his medkit. He pulled the bullet out, trying to keep Ellis calm so he didn’t yell and alert the horde. He bandaged the hick’s arm, before looking over at Keith, who was still out of it.

 

“You said his name was Keith?”

 

Ellis nodded, handing Nick his medkit, “Can yew help him? We need his help.”

Nick sighed, nodding at Ellis before sitting next to Keith and starting to bandage him. Of course, the witch’s dying scream had been heard by the entirety of the infected in the area, leading them towards the group.

 

“Ellis, cover me.”

 

Ellis pulled out his rifle, shooting at any infected that got near. He heard a smoker, looking for it before finding it and sniping it. He looked over at Nick and Keith, seeing that Nick was done fixing Keith up. Keith had woken up, Nick helping him up.

 

“Keith!”

 

Keith turned, seeing Ellis before grinning, “Ellis!”

 

Ellis ran over to his friend, hugging him and refusing to let him go, “Keith!”

 

Keith returned the hug, both of them laughing and smiling.

 

Ellis was happier than he was at the carnival.

 

Nick looked around, letting the hicks stand there and hug each other. The safe room was nearby and the helicopter was hopefully nearby. Wait. The helicopter…

 

“Keith, did you pass a helicopter?”

 

Keith turned to Nick, chuckling a bit, “I flew one. But the engine overheated so I don’t know if it can fly.”

 

Ellis smiled, “I could probably get it workin’.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Yeah but it’ll make a racket. So yew guys will have to help protect me while I fix it.”

 

Nick nodded, before looking back at Keith, “Lead the way to the helicopter.”

 

Keith nodded, heading out and towards the saferoom he had hid in before. Past that saferoom is the helicopter. Ellis followed Keith and Nick, limbing a bit from tripping over the witch. Keith walked over to Ellis, kneeling down so Ellis could get on Keith’s back and get carried to the saferoom. Ellis smiled, accepting the offer and hugging him. Nick laughed as Keith ended up falling over from carrying all of Ellis’ weight.

 

Ellis got back up, giggling as he helped Keith up.

They were almost there. Almost at the helicopter. Once they reached it the next stop would be New Orleans.

  
Hopefully.


	7. Tank!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "I hope to have chapter 7 come out soon!"  
> *SCHOOL HAPPENS*  
> *SOUTH PARK STICK OF TRUTH HAPPENS*  
> *PARENTS HAPPEN*  
> *CRYING IN THE DISTANCE*  
> I'M SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG AND IT'S GARBAGE BUT IT'S A CHAPTER I'M BACK I'M SO SORRY!

“I’m going to go check out the crash site. Do either of you want to come with me?”

 

“Francis, are you sure that is a good idea?”

 

“Yeah. I’m so fucking bored anyway.”

 

“Francis. I don’t want you to get killed.”

 

“Then come with me. Let’s kill some vampires!”

 

“I can’t. We have to stay here with Louis.”

 

“Well then, I’ll go and meet up with them. You can stay here with him and watch as I go and save those guys. See ya.”

 

Zoey stared at the biker, trying to think of some way to talk him out of leaving by himself. But before she could come up with an excuse he climbed down off the bridge, reaching the road before heading off in the direction Nick and Ellis went. Zoey sighed, looking back at Louis.

 

“Will you be alright here? I don’t want to lose Francis as well.”

 

“I’ll be alright Zoey. I can hold my own here.”

 

The scream of a horde and a witch were heard in the distance, zombies running towards the bridge as well as the way that Francis went. Zoey shook her head, sighing before shooting at the horde. She’ll just have to hope that Francis makes it to Nick and Ellis alive. The last thing she wanted was to be stuck with only one other person in the zombie apocalypse. Then again it was better than being alone. She could see Francis running off, leaving the two of them.

 

“FRANCIS! PLEASE, COME BACK!”

 

Screams from the horde was her only answer, and Zoey could only shake her head.

 

“Louis, don’t leave me alone.”

 

“Don’t worry Zoey. I won’t. Also… Francis is strong. He will be alright.”

 

Zoey smiled at Louis for a second, before turning back to the zombies and shooting one that got too close.

 

\---------------

 

“Fucking vampires!”

 

Francis gunned down the zombies that had went after him. Trying to get through the shipyard. The witch’s scream eventually died down after one final scream. The zombies stayed however, having found a survivor to beat on. Of course, this just lead to them getting a bullet to the face from a magnum. The biker kept moving through the horde slowly, trying to not get downed by the amount of zombies. Francis kept moving, hearing a charger and starting to regret running off. He ended up tripping over one of the bodies of the infected, seeing a charger charge into the water, barely missing him. Francis pulled out his magnum, shooting the infected down while trying to crawl away from the horde. He grabbed his pipe bomb, throwing it before getting up again, running towards the saferoom.

 

However, a familiar roar was heard, and Francis looked up at the roof of the nearby warehouse just in time to see a rock getting thrown at him. Francis felt a smoker tongue wrap around his waist, pulling him away from the rock. The tank stood there for a second, before roaring again and disappearing, heading back to the crash site. Francis struggled to get his arm free, managing to get his magnum and shoot the smoker.

 

\-----------------------

 

A tank was nearby and it was all that the three of them could hear. Whatever pissed that tank off was more than likely dead by now, but now the tank was after them. Great. Nick groaned, holding his gun at the ready for it to jump out at them. Ellis was in the helicopter, trying to open it up and fix the engine somehow. He was a mechanic- this shouldn’t be difficult! Then again- cars and helicopters are two completely different things.

 

“Keith, what the fuck did yew do to this thing?”

 

“I flew it! That’s what!”

 

“And yew did a real shitty job of it.”

 

“Shut up, I ain’t a fuckin’ pilot!”

 

A rock was thrown down at them, the conman avoiding it just barely. A tank was on top of one of the nearby warehouses, with a smoker and spitter on their way as well. The smoker dragged Ellis away, while the spitter stopped them from getting to the mechanic. The tank dropped down, letting out a roar as it punched Keith into the helicopter. Nick’s eyes widened as he heard a familiar growl- soon being pounced on by a hunter. Keith stood back up, only to get punched by the tank again and getting downed. That couldn’t be it. They couldn’t die here. They were so close. But Ellis and Nick were both there, dying in front of Keith as the tank stood there, watching them die.

 

“Not so fast; ladies.”

 

The hunter died, having been killed by what seemed to have been a shot from a sniper rifle; with the smoker that had Ellis following. The tank turned its attention to the sniper, roaring before going after him. Ellis and Nick shot at the beast, hoping it wouldn’t down the one who just saved them. The thing had no chance as it fell- its body hitting the ground into a pool of its own blood. Ellis limped over to Keith, helping him up as Nick looked up at the warehouses.

 

“Francis? What are you doing here?”

 

“Saving your sorry asses! Now get that helicopter going! It’s making a racket!”

 

Ellis nodded, getting to work on it once Keith was up again. Francis climbed down, reloading his gun. The spitter was still around, and Nick killed her easily before turning to the commons that were beating on Keith at the moment. Francis shot a lot of them, while Nick focused on the specials. The roar of another tank could be heard.

 

“Shit! Not another one!”

 

“Copter’s working! Get in!”

 

Nick got in the pilot’s seat, with Ellis sitting next to him. Francis got Keith’s arm over his shoulder, helping the other into the helicopter before getting in as well. It rose into the air, avoiding the rocks that the tank had thrown at them. Francis smirked to himself, chuckling.

 

“Drop me off at the bridge. I actually made it and saved you guys.”

 

“Alright Francis. Thanks for the help.”

 

“I can’t tell if that was sarcasm or not.”

 

“It was a mix of both really.”

 

Francis shook his head, turning to Keith before pulling out a medkit, “Stay still. Gotta patch you up.”

 

\-------------------------------------

 

Nick had managed to move the helicopter so that Francis was able to land on the bridge when he climbed out. The biker smirked, seeing Zoey and Louis’ faces before waving at Nick, Keith, and Ellis as the helicopter rose back up and started heading south.

 

“Francis- I don’t believe this…”

 

“What don’t you believe Louis? That I’m alive?”

 

As Louis was about to respond, Zoey butted in, punching Francis in the face.

 

“OW! WHAT THE FUCK?!”

 

“Never. EVER. Do something that stupid ever again Francis! I was so god damn worried!”

 

“Zoey- if I didn’t go those three would have died.”

 

“Three?!”

 

“Yeah- they met someone on the way. His name was Keith. I got to talk to him during the helicopter ride back.”

 

“Still- Please never do anything that stupid again.”

 

“Alright Zoey.”

 

“Promise?”

 

“Ugh- Do I have to?”

 

“Yes you do or I’ll punch you again.”

 

“Okay- I promise I won’t do anything like that again.”

 

The girl smiled, “Good.”

 

Francis shook his head, looking off in the direction that the helicopter went. Those three would be able to make it to New Orleans for sure. There’s no way they wouldn’t be able to.

 

“Zoey? Doesn’t their problem remind you of before?”

  
“If you’re talking about when we got left behind by the Mercy Hospital Helicopter, then yes. it does.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There it is. Yes, there is going to be a Left 2 Die 2 with Zoey and Francis. But that's after I finish this one. I just hinted at it.
> 
> Also I'm very sorry for the very long wait for this chapter! As such, I will give you guys a taste of Left 2 Die 2:
> 
> 00000000
> 
> Francis sighed, staring at Zoey as the two of them listened to the zombies outside. They wanted in. They wanted to kill them. And Bill and Louis were on a helicopter out of there while the two of them were busy dealing with shit still. They have to get out of the hospital. This was a death zone. Why would they put an evac in the exact place where the infection began? The place where the first one with the infection was brought to quarantine. Somehow from there, it leaked out- causing all of this.
> 
> "I hate vampires."
> 
> Zoey didn't bother correcting him, she just smiled. Francis' complaining was always a nice break from listening to the multiple zombie screams that were outside. Zoey looked at the biker's leg, which was badly injured from one of the tanks up there. Francis' leg injury was the reason she stayed behind. Even though Francis had told her to leave him to die, she had no intention of doing so.
> 
> 00000000
> 
> Anyways, thank you for reading this, and chapter 8 should be up in a week or two! I'm happy to be back!


End file.
